WhitneyApps updates our apps often, but lots of people – especially Kindle Fire and NOOK tablet users – miss out on these free enhancements and fixes because updates don’t happen automatically.  It’s time to change all that!  Here’s how to get those updates.  Be sure to connect your device to Wi-Fi before you do this.  Ready? Let’s go!

Below are instructions for Kindle Fire HD (both sizes), Kindle Fire, NOOK HD and HD+, and other NOOK devices (NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet).  Find the right one for you below and you’ll be updating in no time!

Edited on March 2, 2013 to add ever-so-slightly different instructions for the original Kindle Fire.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD:

Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7″)

1) Turn on the Kindle Fire HD.

2) From the home screen, tap the “Apps” tab near the top of the screen.

3) Here’s the tricky part, tap “Store” at the top right.

4) Now tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of the screen (it looks like a box with three horizontal lines across it).

5) Tap “My Apps”

6) Now tap the “Update Available” tab near the top of the screen (just below “My Apps”).

7) Tap the “Update” button to the right of the apps you’d like to update.

Amazon Kindle Fire:

This is very similar to but not identical to the Kindle Fire HD instructions

1) Turn on the Kindle Fire HD.

2) From the home screen, tap the “Apps” tab near the top of the screen.

3) Here’s the tricky part, tap “Store” at the top right.

4) Now tap the menu icon at the bottom-center of the screen (it looks like a box with three horizontal lines across it).

5) Tap “App Updates” in the menu box that comes up at the bottom of the screen.

6) Now tap the “Update Available” tab near the top of the screen (just below “My Apps”) or tap the “Update” button to the right of the apps you’d like to update.

Barnes & Noble NOOK HD and NOOK HD+:

NOOK HD+

1) Turn on your device and go to the home screen

2) Tap the “Apps” icon at the bottom of the screen.

3) Tap the little “table of contents” icon at the bottom left of the screen.  (It looks like four dots with lines to the right of them.)

4) Tap “Check For Updates”

5) Either tap “Update All” or tap individual apps you’d like to update.

Barnes & Noble NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet:

1) Turn on your device and press the ‘n’ key (just below the screen)

2) In the “QuickNav Bar” at the bottom of the sceen, tap “apps”

3) Just above the grid of app icons, on the right side, you’ll see the words “check for updates.”

4) When the “available updates” box appears, tap an app to update just that one or tap the “update all” button to update everything to the latest version.  If you see “all apps are up-to-date,” you’re done.

That’s it!  Have fun with your updated apps.

Let us know what else would be helpful to you.  Just send your ideas to suggestions@WhitneyApps.com, leave a comment here, or post on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WhitneyApps

Happy updating,

Steve @ WhitneyApps

One of you recently asked how to create a problem set for practicing multiplication by 12 in CardDroid Math.  It’s easy – here’s how:

1. Tap “Settings” from the main screen.
2. Tap the “Customize Problem Set” button.
3. Tap the “x” button at the top of the screen for multiplication.
4. Drag the boxes on top slider so both boxes are on the 12. (If it looks like there’s only one, just slide it to 12, and then slide the one underneath to 12 too.)
5. Drag the boxes on the bottom slider to the number range you want (for example, 2 through 12).
6. Tap back and it’s set!

You’ll see example problems on the screen. You can adjust it until it’s exactly what you want.

Your question or tip could be featured here.  Share your question or tip on our contact page or our Facebook page or tweet to @WhitneyApps Twitter.

Have fun and great learning in 2013!

Steve & Eleanor @ WhitneyApps

It’s here now and it’s HOT!  Right now, it’s the #1 educational app and the #83 paid app in the Amazon Appstore and #49 in the NOOK Apps Shop.

Make a perfect score and get a new reward!  Some color schemes have poppable balloons as a reward and others have tappable fireworks.  (There’s even a secret, hidden “micro game” in the balloon screen. Shhh!)  You get spinning stars too.

Still 99 cents and the upgrade is free to current customers:

Veggie clock’s dressing up for Christmas. In version 1.1, you can press a button and Veggie Clock will transform from realistic vegetables on a cutting board to veggies and ornaments (and some Christmas veggies) in front of a beautiful lit tree at night.

All Veggie Clock’s normal benefits are still there too!

Version 1.1 with Christmas mode is available now on Google Play, NOOK Apps, and Amazon Appstore. (If you already have version 1.0, version 1.1 is free!)

Cute, Fun & Healthy

Get Veggie Clock today on Google Play or Amazon Appstore for 50% off:

Coming in early 2013 for iPhone and iPad.

Click the button below and fill out the form for a free email when it’s available in other stores:

Visit the Veggie Clock website for more information about Veggie Clock.

As an app maker, I need to have a variety of hardware for testing. This is especially true of Android where each phone and tablet is a little different. That’s how I came to have a Google Nexus 7, an Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and a NOOK HD+. I mixed it up and got the 7″ Kindle Fire HD and the 9″ NOOK HD+ so it’s not 100% apples to apples – and no Apples.

The Contenders

• Google Nexus 7 - 7″ 1280×800 HD display, $199 for a 16GB model.
• Amazon Kindle Fire HD – 7″ 1280×800 HD display, $199 for a 16GB ad-supported model ($15 more to remove lock screen ads) – no power supply included.
• Barnes & Noble NOOK HD+ – 9″ 1920×1280 HD display, $269 for a 16GB model (the NOOK HD is a more comparable model at $199 for an 8GB model or with a higher density 1440 x 900 7″ display)
  NOTE: The NOOK HD and HD+ allow you to add up to 64GB via a microSD slot.

The comparison begins after the break.

Hardware

Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7″)

The product design award goes to the NOOK HD+. It looks good, feels good in the hand, and has some nice styling touches. (I also look the oval-inspired design of the 7″ NOOK HD.)

The speakers award goes to the Kindle Fire HD. You can actually play music on it and hear it around the room! (But don’t crank it all the way or you’ll get distortion.)

The processor power and responsiveness award goes to the Nexus 7. My graphic-intensive apps got great frame rates on it. Some of this is dues to the quad-core Tegra 3 processor but I think Android 4.1 Jelly Bean’s “project butter” (get it? smooth as butter?) makes a big difference.

Screen

I found all three screens really good. We’re certainly in a new era. They all have high pixel density so the graphics are nice and smooth. Plenty of brightness too. You’ll enjoy reading, browsing, working or playing on any of these screens.

Ecosystem

Google Nexus 7 (7″)

The Nexus 7 has the numerical edge on apps with 700,000 apps in Google Play. It can also use the over 50,000 apps from the Amazon Appstore. You can read books from Google’s store, but you can also load the Kindle and NOOK apps and read those. You can get Google’s or Amazon’s music too. For books and music, it’s the best of all worlds. Video options include Netflix and Google’s movie store.

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD can only easily load apps from the Amazon Appstore, which might seem like a big drawback, but you’ll only see apps that have been tested by a human being. And you’ll only see apps that have been proven to work well on a tablet. It’s possible to “side load” other apps from third-party app stores if you like. You also get the advantage of Amazon Instant Video, which could be a big deal if you’re an Amazon Prime member (lots of free movies).

The NOOK HD has the smallest app store, but it only includes tablet-optimized apps, and B&N’s quality control standards are high. They’re just starting up a video service so hopefully there will be more videos to watch shortly (along with Netflix). Of course Barnes & Noble has a large collection of NOOK books. One of my favorite things about the NOOK is Free Book Friday. Every Friday, you can visit their “Unbound” blog (get it? unbound? eBooks… never mind) every Friday for a free eBook! They’re real books, not the usual 100 different slow cooker recipe book.

Google and Amazon both score points here. But next week, we’ll look at battery, connectivity, the user interface – each is different – and what might be best for you depending on how plan to use your device and who will be using it in your household.

Next Time

What would you like to know about these devices? If you have one of them, what do you like/dislike? Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Whitneyapps

Old verison workaround: The older apps will still work as live wallpaper if you long press an empty area of the home screen, choose wallpapers, choose live wallpaper, and choose the wallpaper of your choice. But the new versions are available so you might as well upgrade and enjoy!

Timeframe: Space Journey 2.1 is now in the Nook Apps Shop.  Santa Cruz Flowers became available on November 15 (yay!).

Steve @ WhitneyApps

Space Journey Moving Wallpaper:

Santa Cruz Flowers Moving Wallpaper

There’s nothing like this app out there!. Check here or “like” us on Facebook to be the first to know. The chile on the right is one of the “characters” from the new app.  It’s interactive, it’s lots of fun, and it’s even useful. And, of course, it’s in HD. (It looks great on Kindle Fire HD, NOOK HD/HD+, Nexus 7, Galaxy Note, and – on the emulator – Nexus 10.)

Edit (November 29, 2012): It was later than we planned, but “Veggie Clock” is in Google Play now and should be in Amazon Appstore and NOOK Apps Shop in early December (be notified by email when it’s in your preferred app store).

CardDroid Math 2.4 is on the way now with some nice enhancements (in Google Play now, watch for status in Amazon Appstore and NOOK App Shop):

• HD Graphics for new tablets (Amazon Kindle Fire HD, NOOK HD, Nexus 7, etc.) and HD Phones (Galaxy S3, Galaxy Nexus, HTC One, etc.)
• Animated start screen – makes everything feel more fun!
• Better timer handling and a new 15-minute timer
• Better support for “extra large” screens
• Optional rotation locking (Android 2.3+) – some kids accidentally tilted the screen and hit the wrong button as it rotated the app.
• Note: CardDroid Math 2.4 now requires Android 2.2 (this covers 97% of active devices)

We’re still planning to give you some great new features later in the year in CardDroid Math 3.0.

Also, a new mystery app will be coming out later in October!

Take care,

Steve @ WhitneyApps